Be’nishan to help SHGs get good returns

After the success of mango and custard apple pulp marketing, SERP expands it to horticulture crops

After experiencing huge success in the sale of mango and custard apple pulp procured by some farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) from their member self-help groups (SHGs), the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) has now floated a farmer producer company – Be’nishan – for organised sale of quality vegetables and fruits to retail chain conglomerates to ensure proper marketing facility and price to the member farmers.

“The basic idea behind the initiative is to make farming profitable by providing farmers proper marketing facility along with helping them with good agricultural practices in production and harvesting, at least in case of horticultural crops to begin with. It’s a part of the larger vision of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to establish crop colonies in the State with value addition at every level possible including food processing since the production of many food crops in the State has already peaked although there’s short supply in some food crops, fruits and vegetables”, explained Agriculture Production Commission C. Parthasarathi.

Another reason cited for the initiative is the ineffectiveness of

barre gorre (buffalo, sheep) schemes to improve the livelihoods and incomes of rural households. With the inauguration of Be-nishan FPO federation company officially by Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy on Monday, the SERP is planning to replicate the success of mango and custard apple pulp pilot projects to improve the incomes of more households as it involves over 4,100 SHGs with over 65,000 women as members formed into 21 FPOs.

Started procurement of fruits and vegetables on experimental basis in September this year, the company has plans to streamline its operations from the new year.

With the farmer-producer groups spread in 12 districts – Siddipet, Vikarabad, Nagarkurnool, Rangareddy, Suryapet, Kumram Bheem-Asifabad, Adilabad, Medak, Mahabubnagar, Narayanpet, Jagitial and Mancherial – the company plans to offer the quality and graded produce to market chain conglomerates with a tie-up in place.

The company already has supply (marketing) tie-up with some big players such as Walmart, 24Mantra, Udaan, Waycool, Ratnadeep and others for supply of fruits and vegetables. With sorted and graded produce from the member farmer-producer organisations, Be’nishan ensures a steady and reliable supply of the listed produce to vendors at the farm gate using a scientifically staggered production plan with the help of agriculture and horticulture departments.

“It’s a win-win situation not only to the farmers and vendors but customers too as it would offer fair and market-linked prices to farmers and the vendors can in turn offer fruits and vegetables procured at more affordable prices as they would do away with overheads in the form of commission to middlemen,” Mr. Parthasarathi said.

Based on the success of the farmer-producer firm, the State government has plans to help SHGs further with integrated pack houses and inclusion of more food crops in the Be’nishan product list.